Sunday, October 16, 2016

Prayer as a Tool for Self-Righteousness

Below is
a rough translation and some initial comments regarding Luke 18:9-14, the
Revised Common Lectionary gospel reading for the 23rd Sunday after
Pentecost. I will blather a bit at the end of the verse-by-verse translation.

9 Εἶπενδὲκαὶπρόςτιναςτοὺςπεποιθόταςἐφ'ἑαυτοῖςὅτιεἰσὶν δίκαιοικαὶ

ἐξουθενοῦνταςτοὺςλοιποὺςτὴνπαραβολὴνταύτην:

Yet he also said this parable to
certain ones who have confidence in themselves that they are justified and who are
contemptuous of the rest.

ἐξουθενοῦντας: PAPart ampl, ἐξουθενέω,
1) to make of no account, despise utterly

1. Like the last parable, Luke frames the parable with the
conclusion at the beginning. I struggled with Luke’s commentary in the last
parable, so I spent some time reflecting on the parable apart from the commentary. As we result, I'll do the same this week.

2. The perfect participle, “have confidence in themselves” leads
to the present participle, “are contemptuous of the rest”. That seems to
suggest the direction of the parable for Luke: Cultivating a sense of
self-assurance about righteousness leads to having a contemptuous view of
others.

3. Not all of the translation options for πείθω (believed,
trusted, assured, etc.) lend themselves easily to the perfect active
intransitive form of πεποιθότας.

10 Ἄνθρωποιδύοἀνέβησανεἰςτὸἱερὸν προσεύξασθαι,ὁεἷςΦαρισαῖοςκαὶὁ

ἕτεροςτελώνης.

“Two men went up into the temple
to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

ἀνέβησαν: AAI 3pl, ἀναβαίνω, 1) ascend 1a)
to go up (see κατέβη v.14)

προσεύξασθαι: AMInf, προσεύχομαι, 1) to offer prayers, to pray

1.
Luke commented on the first parable (vv.1-8) that the widow’s demand for
justice was actually about prayer. In this parable, the activity of prayer
itself is part of the parable.

2.
One way of looking at it is that when one is self-assured and contemptuous of
others, prayer is one of the places where that assurance and contempt plays
out. Another way of looking at it is that the ongoing activity of prayer is one
way that one cultivates the self-assurance of righteousness and contempt of
others.

1. The words “ravenous, unjust, adulterous” of v.11 are
adjectives that the Pharisee uses to show his contempt for the rest of
humanity. One could say that ‘ravenous’ is the alternative to ‘fast’ and
‘unjust’ is the alternative to tithe’ in v.12. Then v.12 does not offer an
alternative to ‘adulterous.’ (Thank goodness.)

13ὁδὲτελώνης μακρόθενἑστὼςοὐκἤθελενοὐδὲτοὺςὀφθαλμοὺςἐπᾶραιεἰς

τὸνοὐρανόν,ἀλλ'ἔτυπτεντὸστῆθοςαὐτοῦ λέγων,Ὁθεός,ἱλάσθητίμοιτῷ

ἁμαρτωλῷ.

But the tax collector who was standing
far off was not willing to lift up his eyes to the heavens, but was beating his
chest, while saying ‘God, be merciful to me the sinner.’

ἑστὼς: PAPart, nms, ἵστημι, 1) to cause or make to stand, to place, put, set

ἤθελεν: IAI 3s, θέλω,
1) to will, have in mind, intend 1a) to be resolved or determined, to
purpose 1b) to desire, to wish

ἐπᾶραι: AAInf, ἐπαίρω,
1) to lift up, raise up, raise on high 2) metaph. to be lifted up with
pride, to exalt one's self

ἔτυπτεν: IAI 3s, 1) to
strike, beat, smite

λέγων: PAPart, nms, λέγω, 1) to say, to
speak

ἱλάσθητί: APImpv, 2s, ἱλάσκομαι,
1) to render one's self, to appease, conciliate to one's self 1a) to
become propitious, be placated or appeased 1b) to be propitious, be
gracious, be merciful

1.
The tax collector’s prayers is shaped by distance, posture, gesture, and word.

2.
The definite article for “the sinner” (τῷ ἁμαρτωλῷ) makes me wonder if he
is offering this prayer in response to the Pharisee’s prayer of sinful others.
Perhaps like, “Yes, I am that one.”

14 λέγωὑμῖν,κατέβηοὗτοςδεδικαιωμένοςεἰςτὸνοἶκοναὐτοῦ παρ'ἐκεῖνον:

ὅτιπᾶςὁὑψῶνἑαυτὸνταπεινωθήσεται,ὁδὲταπεινῶνἑαυτὸνὑψωθήσεται.

I say to you, this one went down
into his house having been justified rather than that one; for whoever exalts himself
will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

δεδικαιωμένος: PerfPPart, nms, δικαιόω, 1) to render
righteous or such he ought to be

ὑψῶν: PAPart nms, ὑψόω, 1) to lift up on high,
to exalt

ταπεινωθήσεται: FPI 3s, ταπεινόω, 1) to make low,
bring low 1a) to level, reduce to a plain 1b) metaph. to bring into
a humble condition

1. The key term in this verse is “justified”
(δικαιόω),
which greattreasures.org defines as “By a judicial decision to free a man from
his guilt (which stands in the way of his being right) and to represent him as
righteous.” (I apologize for the exclusive language). It is the same term as in
v.1 as “those who are self-assured that they are justified.”

2. Questions that arise from this verse for me are: Is
justification the point of prayer? Or, does this conclusion about justification
arise out of the nature of the Pharisee’s prayer? I take it that, with Luke’s
framing commentary in v.1, ‘going home justified’ is not necessarily the point
of prayer per se, but is the issue
here because the Pharisee uses prayer as a way of cultivating and/or expressing
his self-assurance about righteousness.

I. Like
last week’s reading (Lk.18:1-8) we have another parable that is framed by Luke
with instructions on how to hear it, then explained by Jesus afterward. I find
it helpful to outline the text, in order to isolate what the narrator says
about the parable, the parable itself, and what Luke’s Jesus says about the
parable. Just for kicks here are side-by-side outlines of the two readings.

Luke 18:1-8Luke
18:9-14

I.
Narrator’s Introduction, v.1 I.
Narrator’s Introduction, v.9

II. The
Parable, vv.2-5II.
The Parable, vv. 10-13

A.
Both men, v.10

B. The Pharisee, vv.11-12

C. The Tax Collector, v.13

III.
Jesus’ Interpretation, vv.6-8 III.
Jesus’ Interpretation, v.14

Re: Luke 8:9-14

- The
introduction, v.9, seems to be about the coincidence of confidence in one’s
justification and contempt for all others.

- The
parable itself, vv.10-13, does not include a moment of justification, only the
differing dispositions, postures, and words of the Pharisee and Tax Collector.

- Jesus’
interpretation, v.14, circles back to question the confidence in v.9, by
declaring that the Tax Collector, the object of the Pharisee’s contempt, is
actually the one who goes away justified.

II. Besides
structure, the thematic connection between last week’s parable and this week’s
parable is the word “justice” (δίκη).

Luke 18:1-8

V.3 the
widow demands that the judge “vindicate” (Ἐκδίκησόν)
her from her “adversary” (ἀντιδίκου).

V.5 the
judge says to himself that he will “vindicate” (Ἐκδίκησόν) the widow.

V.6 the
judge is called, by Jesus, “unjust” (ἀδικίας).

V.7 Jesus
asks if God will not produce vindication (ἐκδίκησιν).

V.8 Jesus
says God will indeed produce vindication (ἐκδίκησιν).

Luke 18:9-14

V.9 the
parable is directed at those who believe they are “justified” (δίκαιοι).

V.11 the
Pharisee thanks God that he is not “unjust” (ἄδικοι).

V.14
Jesus the tax collector went home having been “justified” (δεδικαιωμένος).

The reference to “justified” in the first and
last verses of our Lk.18:9-14 could indicate that, for Luke, the question “who
is justified?” is the point of the parable.

6 comments:

Great work, I read Left Behind weekly. I am a lay speaker with the UMC. These two guys seem to be a product of their environment. Rome has its' foot on both their necks. The Pharisee has gotten twisted trying to hold his position and the tax collector probably needed a job and now finds himself out of community with his own people and God. So many things corrupt us ever so slowly. Thanks for all you do. Blythe

Your commentary raises some very interesting questions. What indeed is the 'point' of prayer? If not being justified, then what? Is either man in conversation with God or only there to speak? In short, what do they think they are doing? So much to think about. As ever, I'm grateful to you!

Why is "para" in v. 14 translated as "rather than?" I find it often translated as "alongside of" or "close beside."If in fact Luke did not intend "rather than" the meaning of the parable changes entirely because they are both justified, which of course happens to fit with a wide view of grace. Thoughts? Thanks for your work.

David, thanks for your note. I think the particular shading of 'para' here comes from the chiastic statement that follows. It does not sound like "justified together" in the first part would fit with the exalting/humbling in the second part. That's why I went with "rather than."

Thanks for following up Mark- much appreciated. I still wonder if the reversal (exaltation turns to humbling and vice-versa) is a suggestion ( a radical one for first century Jews) that the tax collector is justified without knocking the Pharisee's piety. The opening sentence creates an ugly anchor-point for us readers- the parable is addressed to those who are contemptuous of others while at the same time most Christians have an idea that Pharisees were these loathsome figures that everyone despised. That opening anchor-point may frame the story for us in a way that traps us into making assumptions about both the Pharisee and the meaning of the Parable. But in fact, the Pharisee does nothing wrong. He simply tells the truth. He does more than he needs to do in order to be virtuous and faithful. Without the anchor point that is created by Luke and without our cultural prejudices towards the Pharisee, it seems to me that he's an exemplary figure who first century Jews would have respected a great deal. I'm not saying that "rather than" is a worse translation b/c i think you know better than I do if that's true. I simply wonder if we peel back the onion a little bit, note the bias Luke leads us toward, then the "alongside of" approach to their justification may be just as faithful an approach to the parable. I'm positive we could go back and forth all day so if you refute my interpretation, no problem, i won't engage in an online debate about it. That's the beauty of the parables after all- we could talk about them in many ways that could be faithful. Thanks again for getting back to me. A.J. Levine in "Short Stories about Jesus" has lots to say about Christian prejudice toward Pharisees- it's a great read.

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This blog is a weekly translation of a text from the Revised Common Lectionary.It is my rough translation in bold with some initial comments in blue, all of which are subject to change as we journey together. That's why I welcome your comments.